One more brief hiatus from my hiatus to pass on some very good news: The Ice Bear Project -- created by sculptor Mark Coreth, assisted by my friends and village neighbors Nick Baker and William-Todd Jones (and a host of other good people) -- has received the endorsement and sponsorship of the prestigious World Wildlife Fund.

Here is a brief description of the project: "Mark Coreth is creating a life-sized sculpture of a polar bear out of ice for London's Trafalgar Square this December, and then for major cities across four continents. As each Ice Bear melts it will leave a skeleton, a pool of water and a powerful environmental message about climate change. The Bear will be exhibited at ground level, so that everyone can reach out and touch this inspirational and iconic symbol of the Arctic."

For more information, visit the project's website, or watch the short video above. They're still in need of more donations, sponsors, and host cities in order to spread the project as widely as possible. Become a Friend of the Ice Bear by donating here. No amount is too small. Please spread the word!

 

...On the subject of animals, briefly, before I go back offline to confront my Impending Deadline: I've just received the beautiful picture on the left below, which is Charles Vess' enchanting cover illlustration for The Beastly Bride -- volume 4 in the "mythic fiction" anthology series (for young adult readers) that I edit with Ellen Datlow for Viking. The picture on the right is "The Heron Girl" by my neighbor Danielle Barlow, whose charming blog about country life and art, Notes from the Rookery, I recommend. And just to tie this whole post together, the young girl who posed for Danielle's painting is William Todd-Jones' youngest daughter.

 

Okay, okay, I know I'm not supposed to be posting until I've met my deadline, but I just can't resist sneaking this one in. I'm at work in my office/studio, which is above the shops in the center of my village...and Morris dancers have suddenly appeared in the street below my window. (Having no camera at hand, I used the camera mounted in my laptop to snap these pictures.) As a truck driver's kid from Pennsylvania & New Jersey, I never lose my sense of wonder at having ended up in such a magical place as Dartmoor. Accordion and fiddle music floats into the studio, and I'm thinking: Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

I'm on an especially tight deadline right now, so I'm taking a break from this blog until the project is done. I'll be back just as soon as I can!

The words above come from Tori Amos' husband, quoted in her article for the Guardian series What I Know About Men (with thanks to The Fbomb for the link).  The article is interesting not only for Tori's observations on the subject of men and power, but for the glimpse it gives of a healing and supportive marriage.

Speaking of which, I also recommend Aaron Traister's article "It's hot! It's sexy! It's...marriage!", posted over on Salon.com this week. Traister is the brother of Salon columnist Rebecca Traister, whose work I have long admired.

The picture above was created for the 2008 Tori Amos calendar, a fund-raiser for RAINN.

My friends Annabel Allison and Ceri Baker just made this little video for Casitas (a band of awesomely talented young local lads), shot down at the recycling centre just outside our village.
If you're in southwest England, come support Casitas at Chagstock this weekend -- where you can also see The Squeeze (still around after all these years) and the divine Seth Lakeman.